


Easy Come, Easy Go

by Alexandria (heartfullofelves)



Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: F/F, Goodbyes, Interspecies Relationship(s), Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 14:49:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8628529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartfullofelves/pseuds/Alexandria
Summary: An awkward chance meeting has Niska saying goodbye a second time.





	

Niska stepped off the train, onto the busy platform, and looked around. People – humans and synths alike – surrounded her, getting onto and out of trains, waiting, selling, buying, talking on phones… She was one fish in a sea of people: anonymous. People talked – mostly in German, but in other languages as well – but she shut out their noise; she had a plane to catch.

She stepped forwards with a small suitcase which held her few essentials, and began to make her way towards the station exit and the airport terminal.

That was when she saw Astrid, at least 10 metres away, but walking in the same direction. As if sensing Niska’s gaze, Astrid turned, and their eyes met. Niska froze. _Not here._

When Niska saw that the girl she’d left just hours ago wasn’t glaring at her, as was Astrid’s right, she walked over to her. “What are you doing here?” Niska asked in her usual cool tone.

“I told you, I’m picking up my sister from the airport,” replied Astrid.

Niska remembered. Astrid had told her last night over dinner, but Niska had been distracted, making the decision at last to return to England and face what she’d done a few months ago. She didn’t respond, not knowing what to say.

“My sister won’t arrive for another 30 minutes,” Astrid offered. “Want to go and get coffee?”

Niska blinked, considering it. “I have to check in first.”

Astrid nodded, recognising that as a yes.

Without another word, they walked to the terminal, maintaining half a metre’s space between them. Niska checked in, and by the time she returned to Astrid, they had 15 minutes before Astrid’s sister would be here. They found a café, ordered, and sat down.

Astrid stared at Niska from across the small table. “So, going to explain why you’re leaving so soon?” she asked in her strong accent.

Niska sat with her hands laid flat on the table, not moving. “As I said, I’m needed elsewhere.”

Astrid scoffed. “What sort of explanation is that? It’s a new job? An emergency? What?”

Niska gazed back. “No,” she said. “It’s complicated.”

Astrid shook her head. “You can tell me anything, Niska. I’ll understand.”

“Trust me, you won’t,” answered Niska.

A waiter appeared with their drinks. Niska tried to avoid consuming food or drink, but sometimes there was no way to decline without raising suspicion, so over the past six weeks she’d taken to swallowing a plastic bladder to hold what she ate or drank around Astrid. She sipped at her latte.

Astrid looked at her with sad brown eyes, and she knew it was less about her leaving and more about her not trusting Astrid with the truth. If Niska were human, she’d sigh right now.

“Before I came to Berlin,” she said, wrapping her hands around her coffee cup the way humans did, “I did something… wrong. I have to go back to England and face the consequences of what I did.”

Astrid’s eyes widened. “Something morally wrong, or something illegal?”

Niska didn’t answer.

“Okay,” Astrid sighed. “So you’re going back out of guilt?”

Niska hesitated. “I need to take responsibility for my actions.”

A small smile made its way onto Astrid’s lips, but her eyes didn’t match it. “You’re human after all,” she mused, and sipped her coffee.

Niska stared, frozen but ready to run. “Astrid…”

Astrid’s phone buzzed, and she picked it up to read the message. “I have to go.” She drained her cup, then looked up again. The crease on her brow cut at Niska. “Goodbye,” she said, getting out of her chair.

“Goodbye, Astrid.”

Niska didn’t take her eyes off Astrid as Astrid walked away, and she thought there was something comical about the fact that this morning she’d walked away from Astrid and now Astrid was the one walking away from _her_.

Instead of finishing her coffee, she went into a bookshop. They didn’t stock anything by her “dead white guys”, as Astrid had called the philosophers Niska had been reading, so instead she bought the most difficult puzzle book she could find, knowing she’d get all the correct answers long before she landed in England.

When her plane took off, she gazed out the window and said her final goodbyes. She wasn’t good at recognising her own emotions, and didn’t know whether or not she hoped she’d see either Berlin or Astrid ever again. She touched the hair tie on her wrist. No matter what she hoped, she had a moral duty to carry out, and that came first.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a prompt from betterprompts: “She spotted her from across the busy train station, and her whole body froze. Not here.”


End file.
